Green River, Utah To Farmington, New Mexico
We were up and out of Green River fairly early this morning. The itinerary for today called for relatively few miles (around 250) and hours (4, calculated at the posted speed limit and no stops, but we took longer than that). While this was essentially a Point A to Point B day, we fully intended to enjoy the ride and the view.
This was the first view we had as we rolled eastbound onto I-70 coming out of Green River.
We had clouds off and on during the morning, but the winds were relatively calm, so we didn't experience the problems we had at the end of the day yesterday.
We were definitely in desert country, but the views changed constantly from Green River to our turnoff point at U.S. 191 a few miles down the road. The mountains in the bottom photo are part of the Manti-La Sal Mountain Range just east of Moab, still many miles away.
Note the ascending hot air balloon in the next collage...proof positive that the winds weren't churning the way they did yesterday.
We reached our turnoff to U.S. 191,,,and I drove right past it. I don't know what I was thinking, but I missed the exit just bigger than Dallas. Lucky for us (me, especially), there was an emergency turn-around about a quarter mile down the interstate. I figured this constituted an emergency, so I wheeled around, got on I-70 West, and took the first exit to 191.
What we found on this part of the ride toward Moab was that the scenery and terrain changed constantly. We could have taken the Readers Digest Condensed Book approach to this leg of the adventure, but Barbara took so many good photos of what we were seeing along the way that we decided to use as many as possible.
It was interesting to see the various sizes and shapes of the rock formations along the way.
What was more interesting was the story behind the tire marks in the bottom photo of the next collage...don't know what happened, but we're guessing there were more skid marks than the ones shown here.
The red rock formations are particularly interesting because there are so many color variations and the rocks look so different with various angles of light.
Construction workers and 4-wheeler riders were gathering here, We thought we'd hit a long stretch of construction or road repair down the highway, but never saw anything to slow us down.
Wow!!!
Mt. Tomasaki and Mt. Peale are framed here by the hills along the highway.
Barbara decided this was a good time to get a selfie and a reflection shot.
We don't know when these rocks were pushed up and twisted like this, but we're sure glad we weren't here that day!
We began our approach to Moab, home of Arches National Park.
We didn't know it until we got to this point, but there is a potash mining operation close to Moab.
This area is a photographer's dream.
We crossed the Colorado River as we came into Moab, but didn't have sufficient warning or a good angle to get the picture we wanted.
We stopped at a Denny's Restaurant in Moab for breakfast and a break. Even though it had been a fairly easy ride, the short time off Taz was welcomed.
But, a break is only a break, and soon it was time to climb aboard Taz and head south through Moab toward Monticello, Idaho.
The Manti-La Sal range was much closer here than it was when we first saw it this morning. What must it be like to wake up every morning to a sight like this?!!!
With the mountains slipping behind us, we looked ahead to other sights.
We didn't stop to see what Hole "N" The Rock was all about, but it appeared on the other side that a number of folks were checking it out. Note the vehicle "parked" on top of the rock.
Mesas, buttes, and monoliths abound in this section of Utah.
We saw several arroyos the past couple of days, but this was by far the best shot that Barbara got of one.
There's always time for a selfie and some reflection.
When J.R.R. Tolkien wrote his series of walking songs entitled "The Road Goes Ever On," for his Middle Earth adventures, he wasn't thinking of southeastern Utah. However, it certainly fits here.
Arches National Park is northeast of Moab, but there are a number of these geological oddities in this part of the state. This is Wilson Arch, located on the east side of U.S. 191 just south of La Sal Junction.
Here is an example of an arch in progress...maybe if you check this out in a couple hundred thousand years, it will be a full-blown arch carrying the name of an explorer born many generations down the road.
These mountains are part of the Manti-La Sal National Forest near Monticello, Utah.
We stopped in Monticello to refuel Taz and drain our personal tanks. While we were parked, some German tourists came over and were asking about Taz. From the looks of this photo, I must have been a little excited with my descriptions of what Taz could do.
We saddled up once more and turned east from Monticello on U.S. 491 toward Dove Creek and Cortez, Colorado. The ride to the Colorado state line was scenic in its own way, but not as dramatic as what we just passed through. And, there were only 16 miles left in Utah, as opposed to the hundreds of miles we had traveled since leaving Idaho).
And then we were in Colorado (although the only visual difference was the welcome sign).
This is not the Colorado of the high mountains and snow-capped peaks (though one can sometimes catch a view of the snow-caps way off in the distance if it isn't too hazy).
Ute Mountain, Colorado is visible in the distance in the bottom photo of the next collage.
We rode through Cortez, made a comfort stop at Towaoc, and then continued the adventure toward New Mexico, just down the road a bit. Cortez might as well be in northwestern New Mexico as far as the scenery is concerned.
This area has a number of towering monoliths, worn and shaped over the eons by the various forces of nature.
We're still in Colorado, but way down the road, the ghostly shape of the Shiprock comes into view.
New Mexico at last...we're only one state away from returning to Texas! Of course, there are lots of miles from here to the Texas Panhandle as the crow flies, and we rarely travel as the crow flies.
As we were rolling down the road, Barbara got very excited and yelled for me to stop (several times). I finally got pulled over to the side of the road and asked what was going on, and she pointed out a vague shape way off in the distance. I don't know how she had even noticed this guy, but not only did we stop, we backtracked a couple hundred yards (Taz and the trailer are really good a highway u-turns, legal or otherwise).
We spent nearly a half hour shooting photo after photo and (patiently, but not so silently) coaxing this guy to pose for us. We probably shot 30 to 40 pictures from several hundred yards (thank goodness for a good zoom feature on the Nikon), and eventually culled them down to what you see in this collage.
We continued down the highway, focusing (no pun intended) on the shiprock formation. It was almost as if a ghostly ship was sailing through the desert haze toward us.
This is the shiprock as seen from the northern city limits of Shiprock, New Mexico.
We stopped in Shiprock to withdraw some funds from the bank and were going to grab a bite to eat, but we were headed east on U.S. 64 and the food places must have been on the western side of town.
We decided we'd stop at the first place we saw that looked like a good restaurant, but didn't see anything until we finally reached Farmington. We had some lunch, gave Taz a deep drink of Premium, and then called my cousin to get directions to her house (the GPS didn't recognize the address we had for her).
Within a few minutes, we were at Joan's house. It was the first time in at least 30 years that I had seen Joan, and Barbara had never met her, but as it seems to be with cousins, the time and distance melts away when you meet again.
Joan is one of Daddy's nieces. The Little sisters in Roswell married the Tankersley brothers, and Joan was one of three children born to my Aunt Francis. We had caught up with Joan's brother, Bruce, and her sister, Janice, over the past year or so in East Texas, but Joan's travels rarely (like never) bring her any closer to us than McKinney, Texas.
After making introductions and talking a bit, Joan took us to a local restaurant for dinner. We all chose the salad bar meal and continued talking between bites until we were full. We were very pleased with the restaurant, but it got downgraded from **** to only ** when we discovered that the soft-serve ice cream machine was broken. Oh well...maybe next time.
After our meal, Joan took us on a grand tour of Farmington. Barbara had never been there, and if I have, I sure don't remember it. We were very pleasantly surprised at what a pleasant community it is. They even have a community college that would be the envy of many 4-year institutions.
When the tour was over, we returned to the house for more talking and catching up until everyone was so sleepy we voted to go to bed in preparation for another ride tomorrow.
+++++++
"...but I preferred reading the American landscape as we went along. Every bump, rise, and stretch in it mystified my longing." - Jack Kerouac, On the Road
Resting comfortably in a real bed in Farmington, New Mexico,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsy
